Spark plug wire removing tool



March 23, 1965 B. c. HAMILTQN 3,174,216

SPARK PLUG WIRE REMOVING TOOL Filed Jan. 25, 1965 FIG. l

INVENTOR.

BERT C. HAMILTON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,174,216 SPARK PLUG WEE REMOVING TOOL Bert C. Hamilton, 1311 Washington Ave., La Grande, Greg. Filed Jan. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 253,876 1 Claim. (Cl. 29-235) This invention relates to the removal of spark plugs in the engines of automobiles and in other similar internal combustion engines, and, more specifically, is concerned with the removal from the spark plug of its electric conductor wire as a necessary preparatory step in the removing of the spark plug.

It is generally customary in such engines, particularly in the engines of ordinary automotive vehicles, for the electric conductor wire leading to the spark plug to be attached to the outer end of the spark plug by means of a slip-on shoe or sleeve, of rubber or other similarly suitable material, which carries the end of the wire to which it is secured and which slips on over the outer end of the spark plug, and, by so doing, maintains the end of the wire in proper contact with the spark plug. Such slip-on shoe is commonly called a boot.

Frequently these boots become stuck fast on the spark plugs, especially when they have been in place for considerable time, with the result that the operator not only has difiiculty in removing them manually, but in doing so frequently tears them or twists them loose from the ends of the wires on which they are attached. The resulting necessary replacement of the boot is troublesome and expensive.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and practical tool by means of which the removal of a boot from a spark plug can be accomplished quickly and easily and without likelihood of damaging the boot or loosening its attachment to the conductor wire.

A related object of the invention is to provide practicalmeans for removing a boot from a spark plug when the spark plug is still hot, without requiring the operator to wait while the spark plug cools, as has heretofore been required.

A further object is to provide a simple spark plug boot removing tool which will be convenient to use even though the particular spark plug may be somewhat inaccessible due to the proximity of other spark plugs or obstacles on the engine.

The construction and manner of use of this special tool will be readily apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the tool by itself;

FIG. 2 is a foreshortened partially sectional elevation illustrating the tool in operation, the broken lines indicating me position into which certain members of the tool are moved in the forcing of the boot from the spark plug; and

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 drawn to a larger scale.

The tool includes a hollow handle 10, preferably of plastic, having a tubular stem 11 and an enlarged integral finger grip top portion 12. A plunger 13 is slidably mounted in the handle and extends up beyond the top portion 12. The outer end of the plunger has an integral head 14 preferably, although not necessarily, of the same size or diameter as the top finger grip portion 12 of the handle It). A coil spring 15 is carried on the plunger, with its inner end positioned in a recess 15' in the top portion 12 of the handle 10 and with its outer end in engagement with the head 14 of the plunger. This spring is held under compression at all times, as later explained.

A push-pull cable 16 has one end firmly secured to the inner end of the plunger 13 within the handle 10 and the 3,174,216 Patented Mar. 23, 1965 ice other end secured to the integral shank 21 of a lower bifurcated metal foot 22. The cable 16 and the connected shank 21 are slidably held in a composite flexible conduit assembly comprising a short upper sleeve 17, rigidly secured to the end of the tubular stem 11 of the handle 10, a flexible conduit portion 18, secured at one end to the sleeve 17, and a tubular stem 19 secured to the other end of the flexible portion 18. Thus, as apparent from FIG. 2, the shank 21 of the bifurcated foot 22 and the end of the cable 16 are slidable in the tubular stem 19. An upper bifurcated foot 20, preferably of substantially the same contour as the lower bifurcated foot 22, extends from the tubular stem 19 and is integral therewith.

The lower bifurcated foot 22 and the companion bifurcated foot 20 are of such shape and size that they can loosely receive the top of a conventional spark plug P (FIGS. 2 and 3) between their forks. However, the spacing between the forks of the upper bifurcated foot 20 is less than the external diameter of the bottom end of the boot B so that the upper bifurcated foot 26 will engage the bottom end of the boot B when the upper bifurcated boot, having been placed about the spark plug P below the boot, is moved upwardly or outwardly away from the spark plug and engine block in the direction of the axial line of the spark plug.

In the normal unused position the tool will be in the position shown in FIG. 1, the lower bifurcated foot 22 being held against the upper bifurcated foot 20 by the force transmitted from the compression spring 15. When it is desired to remove the boot B and its "attached wire W from the spark plug P (FIG. 2) the two bifurcated feet 20 and 22 of the device are inserted around the top of the spark plug beneath the end of the boot, the starting posi tion being shown in full lines in FIG. 2. If the spark plug in question should be in an inconvenient location, to which access would be diflicult with any rigid straight tool, the

flexibility of the conduit assembly for the flexible cable 16 enables the tool to be operated in a curved position, such as that illustrated, enabling the spark plug location to be reached more conveniently.

When the bifurcated feet of the tool are set in position about the spark plug and beneath the boot, the operator, by holding the handle between two fingers and then pressing down on the head 14 of the plunger with his thumb, exerts a force for moving the bifurcated feet relatively away from each other. However, since the lower foot 22 will bear against the spark plug and surrounding portion of the engine block, the thrust exerted by the operator to bring the head 14 of the plunger and the top 12 of the handle closer together will result in moving the handle towards the head 14 of the plunger and in causing the upper bifurcated foot 20 to be moved to the broken line position of FIG. 2, thus causing the boot B to be pushed off from the spark plug.

As will be evident, the setting of the tool in position for removing the boot and the subsequent operation of the tool Will take only a minimum amount of time; it will not be necessary for the operator to wait for the spark plug to cool oif, nor need he worry about receiving any electrical charge from any contact with the plug and surrounding portion of the engine block; and the possibility of the boot being damaged or being twisted from its mounting on the conductor wire is practically eliminated.

I claim:

A spark plug wire boot removing tool consisting of a flexible conduit, a tubular handle assembly secured to the top end of said conduit, a tubular stem secured to the bottom end of said conduit, a bifurcated foot integral with and extending out from one side of the bottom end of said stem, at push-pull cable slidably mounted in said conduit, the top end of said cable extending part way into said handle assembly, the bottom end of said cable extending part A 3 ,1 way into said stem, at plunger secured to the top end of said cable in said handle assembly and extending up above said handle assembly, said handle assembly slidable on said plunger, a head on the top end of said plunger, a coil spring on said plunger held under compression between said head and said handle assembly, a shank secured to the bottom end of said cable within said stern and slidable in said stem, the bottom of said shank extending beyond the bottom end of said stern, and a bifurcated foot on said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Starks Jan. 11, 1921 Walden Jan. 17, 1950 

